This is a simple recipe that makes it easy to feed a crowd or make enough to have leftovers all week. Meatless and very light (uses wontons instead of noodles), this recipe will become a family favorite!

Basic recipe for 4 stacks, then multiply by the amount you are making (I have made X5 here):

3/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan Reggiano cheese, grated

12 wontons

Homemade tomato sauce

Mix the cheeses in a bowl. Preheat over to 400.

Butter baking dishes and coat with sauce. Blanch the wontons individually, dipping them with perforated spatula in hot water, lift out and lay on towels to dry. Lay one layer of wontons in dishes. Top each wonton with a dollop of cheese mixture, flatten cheese to edges. Top with 2nd wonton. Top with another layer of cheese mixture. Top with final wonton and a dollop of sauce.

Bake for 15 minutes or so. These are perfectly nice reheated in the microwave the next day. These also freeze easily after baking and reheat nicely weeks later. Easy, light, delicious!

Our oatmeal/chia “breakfast pudding” is wildly popular with choices of organic blueberries, raspberries or blackberries….so this week I invented MOCHA! Pinterest recipes generally called for instant espresso powder and cocoa powder, but I wanted ours to feature premium Manor Blend coffee and organic chocolate. After some experimentation, here it is…and it’s FLYING off the buffet to great acclaim! Make some!

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/8 cup organic chia seeds

1 cup Organic Greek Vanilla Yogurt

3/4 cup 2% milk

1/3 cup cold coffee

3 tsp. organic chocolate syrup Mix, put in jars and cover, refrigerate overnight and enjoy. Keep 3 days easily, a week if you must. Grab and go, a healthy treat!

No Cook Refrigerator Oats are a healthy and delicious way to “Grab and Go” into your morning, or take them to work for lunch or a snack. You can make up a batch and they keep well in the fridge for 3-5 days. Use fresh or frozen fruit, your choice. We use small mason jars with the plastic lids available at Amazon.com.

There are many recipes to make these, check online and at Pinterest for recipe varieties. We at YMBB have standardized on this recipe:

Combine ingredients well in a bowl. Use a whisk to be certain that the oatmeal isn’t at all clumped, which will make your yogurt pudding pasty. Then simply layer in jars with organic berries, fruit, chocolate, etc.

I have previously shared my favorite recipe for veggie stock here. It’s intensely delicious, with deep herb and garlic flavors, but it also takes about 4 hours to make and, ideally, must be used to make soup right away. Perfect for a long, winter weekend in the kitchen but….wouldn’t it be great if homemade stock was available at a moment’s notice? Of course you can choose to buy a good brand of canned/boxed organic broth, but if you are a freak for homemade, here’s the answer.

Cook’s Magazine (I’m an addict) published this in the 2-15 issue, and I just had to try it. Their claim: “This broth has it all: easy preparation, minimal waste, convenient storage, and, best of all, fresh, balanced vegetable flavor.”

It’s made in the food processor, raw and then frozen, for scooping out by the tablespoon whenever you need veggie stock. It chooses celery root instead of celery for “mild, complex celery flavor without bitterness/sourness”, dried minced onion gives it “depth” and tomato paste makes it “savory”. The soy sauce is for the “umami”.

Would it be as flavorful as my long-cooking veggie stock? I had to know! So I made them both and put it to the test.

I know this seems like a salty recipe but once diluted it’s actually perfect. Salt also depresses the freezing point and the concentrate never freezes solid, making it perfectly scoopable from the freezer as needed.

I recommend using a digital scale for the best balance of flavors in this recipe. Kosher salt aids in grinding the vegetables.

Into the Cuisinart with it! Do I still need to remind you that all root vegetables should be certified “Organic”?

2 leeks, white and green parts, chopped and washed, 5 ounces

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces, 3 ounces

1/2 small celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces, 3 ounces

1/2 cup/1/2 ounce) parsley leaves

3 T dried minced onion

2 T kosher salt

1 1/2 T tomato paste

2 T soy sauce

Process the leeks, celery root, parsley, minced onion and salt, scraping the sides of the bowl frequently, until the paste is as fine as possible, 3-4 minutes. Add tomato paste for 1 minute, scraping sides frequently. Add soy sauce and process another minute. Transfer mixture to an airtight container and tap firmly on the counter to remove air bubbles. Press a piece of parchment paper flush against the surface and cover. Keeps in the freezer for 6 months.

Here is what it looks like when it’s finished. The nearly 2 cups of base makes 28 cups of broth!

Reconstitute by adding 1 tablespoon of this base to 1 cup of boiling water. Strain though cheesecloth if you want a particle free broth, but it’s not necessary.

Here’s a cup of my standard stock, on the left, next to the reconstituted base on the right. The flavors were similar but certainly not the same. The regular stock will still be my favorite for gourmet times and broth dependent soups. But for everyday convenience, like risottos, pastas, sauces or quick soup for two….this freezer option is a winner!!!!

Here it is, at last, Yelton Manor B&B’s Pumpkin Pear Bread! In the fall we double down on it’s lusciousness by roasting a whole pumpkin for the puree and also using *fresh from the local orchard* pears! But other times of the year we use canned pears and canned unsweetened pumpkin puree. The spices make it marvelous too, so use freshly ground if you can.

This recipe will work in a loaf pan, muffin pan or, as we do, in a bundt pan. Your cooking time will vary depending on your choice.

Whisk together oil and egg in a separate bowl until smooth. Whisk in milk, then pumpkin and vanilla. Stir flour mixture into oil-egg mixture until just combined, do not over mix. Fold the pears in gently.

Spread batter in prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Our experience is that a loaf pan takes 45-55 minutes, but a bundt pan only about 40. Muffins will be more like 30 minutes.

And it’s not just for breakfast! This marvelous savory AND sweet quick bread is wonderful as a dinner dessert paired with a tart goat cheese! YUM!

This is my favorite winter salad and it’s always a crowd pleaser at the Holidays! Now you know what to do with all those clementines in that box! Pomegranates are seasonal November through January too. Break up any winter lettuce, like Romaine. Whisk up a simple dressing of about 1/3 cup clementine juice, 1 T champagne vinegar, 1 T honey and 1 T olive oil, dress the lettuce. Top individual plates with the clementine sections, pistachios, bits of goat cheese and some pomegranate seeds. Be prepared for applause!!!

The Mother of ALL Soups is a fabulous, flavorful, vegetable stock. Easy too. At home all winter I keep it as a refrigerator staple. I frequently use it for luncheon soup when we have a corporate retreat at Yelton Manor Bed and Breakfast too. Quality food, first and foremost!!!

Every season is soup season. ALL kinds of soup from the winter squashes and root vegetables through to spring asparagus. Summer is TOO easy with all the fresh produce coming into the local farms. With beans, or potato, or pasta. Greens like spinach, chard, kale. Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, caramelized onions, ooh la la!!!

Soup can be made extraordinary every day with a fundamental commitment to a delicious, low-sodium, homemade vegetable broth. Dedicate a day of any/every week when you are home doing laundry, working out, etc (Saturday or Saunday, right?), and make this stock. Then turn it into whatever kind of soup you want, or several different kinds of soup, or as a base for pot pies, all week long, every week.

This makes the house smell SO good! Prep time is about 15 minutes, and it stews for 2 1/2 hours. Straining takes about another 10 minutes and pot/bowl clean-up about another 10 minutes. You should DO this! Grocery store stock, canned OR boxed, even the very highest rated/organic/low-sodium, is simply disgusting compared to this.

Use all organic vegetables for this stock. These are ROOT vegetables, so organic is vital or you will be making up a batch of Pesticide Punch.

After you make this 2-3 times you’ll know the ingredients by heart, making grocery shopping easy.